The Sheldon archives

The Sheldon Tapestries marked an attempt by wealthy landowner William Sheldon and his son Ralph to create new rural employment opportunities through the development of new skills imported from continental Europe.

John Sheldon was a pioneering manufacturer and innovator during the early years of the explosive growth in industrial capacity in the city of Birmingham. Innovators such as Sheldon were the catalyst for the rapid expansion of what was soon to become…

A more detailed look at the Sheldons’ involvement in the Leicestershire coalfield, which began during the reign of Henry VIII and lasted for another 200 years. The methods were primitive but William Sheldon and his heirs certainly knew how to make their investment pay…

Thomas Habington, the respected Worcestershire chronicler who lived through the same tumultuous period in English history, said of William Sheldon: “In our age for wisdom, estate and authority in our county he equalled most of the gentlemen of England”…

William Sheldon (1501-1575) lived through one of the most turbulent periods of English history but had the good sense not to publicy commit himself to either side of the great religious divide that caused so many of his contemporaries to lose their heads…

Charles Gates Sheldon was a prolific and talented American illustrator whose ‘pretty woman’ stylised portraits in chalk pastels were much in demand in the 1920s and 30s. His work was initially distinctly Art Nouveau with a mix of Edwardian influences…

William Alexander Watson Sheldon (1907-1999) was an Irish politician who earned the respect and admiration of both sides of the country’s great political and religious divide. Despite being an Ulster Protestant…